Apparatus and method for improving the safety of railroad systems

1. A method of determining the location of hazardous spots on a railroad track comprising the steps of: providing an attitude sensor attachable to a rail car for measuring the attitude of the rail car; moving the rail car over a length of railroad tracks; sensing the attitude of the rail car at a plurality of positions on the railroad tracks as the rail car moves over the length of railroad tracks; comparing the sensed attitude at the plurality of positions with reference attitudes at the plurality of positions; and determining the location of hazardous spots on the railroad track based on the comparison of the sensed attitudes with the reference attitudes.

2. A method of improving the safety of railroad systems comprising: providing a rail vehicle placed on a set of railroad tracks; determining the attitude of the rail vehicle at a plurality of positions on the railroad tracks; sensing the position of the rail vehicle at the plurality of positions; storing information based on the sensed attitude and sensed position for each of the plurality of positions; and forming a database using the stored information to indicate the current and past condition of the railroad tracks.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising the steps of: predicting the future condition of the railroad tracks using the database.

4. The method of claim 2 further comprising the steps of: determining the rate at which the condition of the railroad tracks deteriorates using information stored in the database; and determining when the railroad tracks need to be repaired or replaced based upon the rate of deterioration.